Letters to the Editor

Fantasy land stimulus

JOBS are big news these days with the national jobless rate above 10 percent. One of the purposes of the $787 billion stimulus bill passed earlier this year was to fund "shovel-ready" projects and stimulate growth, easing unemployment. How is it working? Hard to say, but it seems like a lot of the jobs reported by the White House as created or saved are mythical. For example, according to recovery .gov, 30 jobs have been saved or created by the stimulus in Arizona's 15th District. The only problem is, Arizona has only eight districts....

Is Euro- Christo-?

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS isn't a slippery slope, it's a free fall into moral vacuity, a sure descent into cultural extinction. Examples? A look across the Atlantic: Great Britain's intrepid explorers knew how to use a compass, allowing the small island nation to establish an empire on which the sun never set. Left over from the days of colonialism are territories over which the British government still exercises dominion, including St. Helena, Ascension, and Tristan da Cunha islands, located in the middle of the South Atlantic. The 4,000 or so inhabitants of these isolated locales don't ask much of the Crown, but they would like to retain the verbiage in their Constitution which says the territory "wishes to respect Christian and family values."...

Ditch the dead bird; go vegetarian!

NORFOLK--If tradition holds, today President Obama will "pardon" two turkeys--the "National Thanksgiving Turkey" and a backup--in a much-publicized ceremony at the White House Rose Garden. I'm not sure what misdeeds turkeys raised for food need to be pardoned for, since most of them spend their entire lives crammed into filthy, windowless warehouses where they can barely take a step. But let's not quibble: We should all follow the president's lead and pardon a turkey this Thanksgiving....

What about justice for the turkey workers?

CHICAGO--We should know where our turkeys come from, and who proc-esses them for us. The turkeys piled into supermarket freezers carry their own stories. Raised primarily in massive confinement buildings by low-paid growers under contract to corporate food giants, they are genetically designed for plentiful breast meat to grace our Thanksgiving platters. They are then trucked to a processing plant, where they meet their demise....

I'd like to see a true health care debate

I'd like to see a true health care debate The Senate has agreed to vote on health care. If this were truly a debate, they would discuss: the elimination of all tobacco products; consumption of alcohol, high-fructose corn syrup as a sweetener, and junk food; and, finally, nutrition requirements for fast-food restaurants....

Warning constitutes 'hate speech'

Warning constitutes 'hate speech' I've often wondered how letters to the editor are chosen for publication, as quite a few letters The Free Lance-Star prints seem to have little to do with what is actually in the daily paper....

Rep. Wittman's vote reflected his district

Rep. Rob Wittman's recent vote against the health care bill was in line with his district, and consistent with his fiscally responsible approach to government. This is why I supported him in the past, and why I will continue to support him in the future....

Superintendent's salary is over the top

Superintendent's salary is over the top Spotsylvania School Superintendent Jerry Hill may be worth his pay, maybe not....

Thanks to Wittman for his health care vote

Thanks to Wittman for his health care vote I would like to applaud Rep. Rob Wittman for his stand against H.R. 3962....

Don't underestimate Wilderness popularity

This is regarding Kalvin Kurtz's Nov. 18 letter ["Where is everyone now that the battle is over?"]. Frankly, it's surprising that he's surprised at the downturn in visitation at the Wilderness battlefield. Maybe he hasn't lived here long enough to notice that many more visitors come to the battlefields in the summer than in the fall. In fact, that's true for all area historic sites....

New London loses Pfizer, and its heart

PROVIDENCE, R.I.-- Amtrak riders passing through New London, Conn., can catch an odd sight in an otherwise picturesque New England setting: a fancy corporate center standing next to a street grid emptied of nearly all its buildings. This used to be the Fort Trumbull neighborhood, a working class enclave that would have been largely forgotten had it not been central to a controversial 2005 U.S. Supreme Court ruling on eminent domain--the government's right to take private property for public use....

Local officials' salaries are 'obscene'

Why did The Free Lance-Star have to go to the Freedom of Information Act to get information about local public officials' salaries? ["School chiefs top public pay in area," Nov. 15]. All county employees are paid by us, the residents of the county. Were they asked for this information and refused to disclose it?...

We will all pay for others' health care

We will all pay for others' health care This is regarding Megan Hicks' Nov. 10 letter ["Ask me: We need public option health care"]....

Don't blame Muslims for the act of one

Don't blame Muslims for the act of one I am deeply troubled by the Nov. 5 tragic shooting at Fort Hood....